stray god
by hiyoris-scarf
Summary: "You lost Ebisu!" "Of course he's not lost," Bishamon insists. "We just…need to find him." Yato snorts. "According to most definitions, that means 'lost'."


**A/N:** written for the Noragami Big Bang Challenge 2016. takes place immediately after the ending of Aragoto, but before other manga events.

* * *

Bishamon rests her chin against her knuckles, the fingers of her other hand tapping an arrhythmic pattern against the top of her desk. The sharp _click_ of their landing is the only sound in the room, magnified in rich echoes against the walls. For the moment, there is little ayakashi activity on the Near Shore, and the heavens are calm after Ebisu's reincarnation.

 _Click. Click._

Too calm.

Her experience as a god of war has ill-equipped her for the aimless drudgery of paperwork, so she sets it aside. Kazuma will lecture her later, but she can handle that battle whenever it arrives.

"Veena."

Which, apparently, is now.

Her exemplar pokes his head around the open doorway.

"Come in, Kazuma."

He does, and makes a beckoning gesture to someone behind him. The familiar tread of Kazuma's shoes on the polished floor is followed by a lighter, somewhat unsteady step. Bishamon recognizes it before its owner comes into view, and rises instantly from her seat at the desk.

"Ebisu?!"

The small boy walks unhesitatingly right up to her desk, and gazes at her with a very serious expression.

"Thank you for your courtesy in receiving my visit, Miss Crazy-Lady."

She's going to find several thousand unique and very painful ways to make the Yatogami regret saddling her with that nickname. At her shoulder, Kazuma sounds like he's choking on his tongue.

"Lord Ebisu has a—a rather peculiar request," Kazuma explains, after the sound he makes draws her attention to him.

"Yes," says Ebisu, his attitude entirely businesslike. From behind his back, he pulls out a pencil and notebook. "I would appreciate it if you would allow your exemplar to show me around your estate. I'm curious to see what the routine and practices are in the household of a god as powerful as you."

Bishamon blinks. It is a peculiar request, but not overtly suspicious. Except for one small detail.

"Where are your—?"

"Kunimi and my other regalia will not accompany me. If I am to make objective observations, I can't have them nearby to affect my judgment."

He scratches his chin with the tip of the pencil, and his eyes sparkle with enough childlike enthusiasm to match his miniscule frame.

"And I want to develop an independent spirit!"

Ebisu's oddities have not, it seems, been altered in any way by his reincarnation. Bishamon turns to face her exemplar.

"Kazuma?"

There's a funny, indulgent smile on his face. She always seems to catch him wearing it right when she turns toward him, and it always smooths itself out quickly into respectful neutrality. However, she can't help wondering how many times she _doesn't_ catch that smile when it appears.

"I'd be happy to show him whatever he wants to see, my lady. Although I'm sure Kunimi would like to know where he is, eventually."

Bishamon's shoulders tense.

"You _ran away?"_

Her outraged tone would have frightened most, but Ebisu just shrugs and looks off to the side.

"He and my other shinki don't seem to like my wandering off alone."

Kazuma makes that strange choking nose again; she thinks perhaps he needs to drink some water before it gets any worse.

"Well, first of all, I'm going to alert Kunimi that you're here, and not lost," she says, putting her fingers to her temples.

"Wait, please."

Ebisu's voice sounds worried.

"It's important that I learn a little on my own. As a master, I have to know what's best for them—but I can only learn by observing. And if they are the only ones I observe, I'll never actually learn. I came to you because you have experience, and are used to dealing with this kind of responsibility."

His small face is alight with earnestness, and Bishamon understands. He wants to know how to treat his regalia like family, like she has learned to. So she crouches down in front of him and smiles.

"Well, I suppose I can wait to let him know until after an hour or so. That gives you a little more time. How does that sound?"

Ebisu's eyes crinkle at the corners as he grins.

"Thanks so much, Miss Crazy-Lady!"

 _Yes,_ she thinks, as Kazuma and Ebisu walk out of her office together. _The Yatogami will pay._

/

"So. What do you want to see, exactly?"

Ebisu glances down at his notebook, and taps his pencil thoughtfully against his small chin.

He walks alongside Kazuma, eyes alert and darting everywhere to pick up each detail. The only time he looks down is to scribble something in a scrawling, childish hand in his notebook, at which times Kazuma fears he will trip and go sprawling.

"I'm not entirely sure. My predecessor left very little in the way of practical guidance. You knew him, didn't you?"

Kazuma thinks of the tall, serious-eyed god, and looks down at the child trotting next to him, his toes catching on the uneven stonework of the hallway.

"I did."

A few seconds of silence pass, during which the only sounds are the scratch of Ebisu's pencil, the quick tap of his feet, and Kazuma's heavier footfalls. Finally, the latter says:

"How about we tour the house, and I'll explain as we go. Lady Bishamon's other shinki may be able to help you too. We all work together under her, after all."

Ebisu nods, still taking rushed notes on his pad. Kazuma wonders why he's already so busy with writing things down. They haven't even seen anything yet.

The hallway widens and opens into the courtyard, where Kazuma spots Tsuguha and Kinuha talking at a distance. He looks down at Ebisu, who hasn't noticed them yet.

"Those two are a couple of the most important members of Lady Bishamon's combat team. Do you want to talk to them?"

Ebisu finishes a sentence in his notes, emphasizing the final line with a decisive, if uneven stroke. He considers.

"It would probably be best to gather some interviews. Yes, I would like to speak with them."

Kazuma waves to the two shinki, catching their eye. Tsuguha sees them first, and points them out to her companion. The two pause in their conversation as Kazuma and Ebisu approach.

"You both are already familiar with Lord Ebisu…" Kazuma begins, but trails off as his courteous introduction is fully ignored by both women.

"Your little suit!" Tsuguha raptures, bending down to straighten the cuffs of Ebisu's sleeves.

"So adorable…" Kinuha coos, falling to her knees and pinching his cheeks, which causes Kazuma to react with alarm.

Ebisu, on the other hand, seems altogether unfazed by the attention, continuing to take notes as he is fawned over.

"Ladies, please remember yourselves!" Kazuma says in weak remonstrance. He might as well be a piece of furniture for all the attention he gets.

To his humiliation, Kazuma looks over Ebisu's shoulder to see him writing: _Displays of overt affection toward "cute" objects are commonplace, and, through some mysterious means, therapeutic. Perhaps invest in kitten? Or think larger scale—petting zoo*, perhaps._

 _*Budget analysis: cost-effective? Potential upkeep vs. potential benefits?_

"Hard to believe something so cute is still one of the Seven Gods of Fortune," Tsuguha giggles to Kinuha.

"Please, believe it," Kazuma says desperately, and reaches for Ebisu's hand to pull him away from the members of his new fan club. Ebisu objects to his sudden departure.

"I didn't even get to ask them any questions!"

Kazuma mutters a vague response, hoping that the rest of his master's shinki will exhibit more self-control.

/

Bishamon discovers that her paperwork is even less palatable after Kazuma and Ebisu leave. She finds herself instead wondering what Kazuma will decide to show the newly reincarnated god. Much of what goes on right under her nose is left to her exemplar's expert counsel, since she is primarily concerned with the heavens' business. She has grown to a realization that the house of a war god is not, perhaps, the war god's house.

Once she's halfway down the next page, she makes a decision, and sets the pen down.

After all, she reasons, if Ebisu really wants to learn, he should learn not only from an exemplar, but from a god as well.

This decision is definitely not connected to the fact that if she has to fill out one more official form, she will scream. Definitely not connected, _at all._

Bishamon walks out into the spacious hallway and takes a few steps before realizing she doesn't have a destination in mind. Where could they have gone? Ebisu didn't mention anything specific he had wanted to see, so the two of them could be…anywhere. Bishamon, more than anyone else, knows how gargantuan her estate is. So all that's really left for her to do is sigh, and hope the direction she heads is the right one.

She walks in the opposite direction from the courtyard, aiming her steps toward where the large hallway joins with a smaller passage. At the juncture of the two, she sees one of her shinki passing.

"Iroha."

The shinki's steps halt, and her shoulders straighten at the sound of Bishamon's voice. She bears the appearance of a girl of about the age of sixteen, and in her other form she is a sharp quill pen.

"My lady."

Bishamon smiles, setting Iroha at ease. She still has to work to make sure her shinki do not fear discomforting her. She sees this fear, in the clusters of lines that sometimes form around the corners of their mouths or between their eyebrows. She sees it along the stiff planes of their shoulders and chests as they stand tall before her. She even feels it, the bundles of nervous energy that rise along her spine and settle deep at the base of her neck. Bishamon used to ignore the warning signs, reasoning that her family was trustworthy and loving enough to overcome their own weaknesses and unburden themselves of guilt. She called them her children, and children should never want to harm their mother. But she has learned—in the hardest possible way—that the truth of having such a large family is that someone will always be unhappy. It is her job to hear them, not to silence them.

So before asking Iroha if she has seen her exemplar wandering around anywhere, Bishamon asks her some unrelated questions first. The "how are yous" and pleasantries don't necessarily have to be deep or involved, but a few personal questions can go a long way toward making her shinki comfortable.

After a few seconds of conversation, Bishamon asks:

"Have you seen Kazuma anywhere nearby? He would have been accompanied by a child."

She holds her hand level, about where the height of Ebisu's head would be. Iroha nods.

"They were in the courtyard a few minutes ago. It looked like they were headed toward the south end of the mansion."

Bishamon is already turning on her heel, but even as she hurries off she calls back with a smile: "Thank you Iroha!"

The regalia waves back, returning her smile, and Bishamon feels a cord of tension slide away like water. _We learn._

She passes through the empty courtyard to the opposite entrance, where Iroha said saw Kazuma and Ebisu were heading. A few more steps, and she sees them stopped in the middle of the hall. For some reason, Kazuma is kneeling down in front of Ebisu.

"Hello there!" she calls out, and her exemplar looks up, his eyebrows furrowing.

"Veena?"

"I decided to accompany you. Ebisu could really benefit from my point of view, don't you think?"

Kazuma chuckles, and rises from his knees. He brushes dust off his pant legs.

"Of course. We haven't gotten very far yet, actually."

He looks back down at Ebisu, who turns around to face Bishamon, and her eyes widen. His entire front is plastered in dust.

"How—?" she begins.

"Don't worry, it'll wash off," Ebisu interrupts, patting his hands on his shirt and making little clouds of dirt billow out of it.

"There was a shoelace incident," Kazuma explains, gesturing to Ebisu's feet. He's finished tying them in neat little bows, and Bishamon smiles.

"If you'll show me where I can wash up, we can continue," Ebisu says, completely undeterred from his task. Kazuma is about to speak, but Bishamon raises a hand.

"I'll show him, don't worry."

Kazuma blinks, and looks as though he would like to object to her performing any task that he could just as easily accomplish.

"Don't worry, I won't get lost," she says.

Kazuma's eyebrows tilt upward, briefly giving him an expression of childlike uncertainty. As she walks away from him, with Ebisu in tow, she decides that the look suits him well. It's…endearing.

"Are you learning everything you've hoped?" she asks Ebisu, after leading him to the entrance of the nearest washroom.

"I've already learned something useful," Ebisu says thoughtfully. "You can earn the trust and happiness of your shinki by doing tasks for them. Not too many tasks, though—otherwise they'll feel like they aren't useful to you. But you can still behave like you're one of them. It's apparently _quite_ effective in creating loyalty."

Bishamon's mouth drops partway open, and she quickly snaps her teeth together.

"Really? That much already?"

Ebisu nods.

"Of course. It only took a little observation just now. It's clear that your exemplar is dedicated to you—more so than most—because you act like you're not above him."

Then he walks into the bathroom, leaving Bishamon in stunned silence.

"Lady Bishamon!"

She turns around and sees Iroha coming toward her, an anxious expression on her face.

"What's wrong?"

"There's a very unpleasant situation in the courtyard involving Kinuha—I came to get you immediately."

Bishamon casts a glance at the bathroom door, then hurries off with Iroha, reasoning that Ebisu will know to stay put until she comes back, after she sorts out whatever this is.

/

Kazuma, while he waits for Bishamon and Ebisu to return, realizes that what his master really wanted was a moment to speak to the little god alone.

He should have understood that instantly, he thinks, trying not to feel ashamed—for her sake, not necessarily for his own.

While he waits, he suddenly hears a commotion coming from the nearby courtyard. Casting a glance in the direction where Bishamon and Ebisu were headed, he doesn't see any sign of their return. Listening harder, he definitely hears the noise of voices, some of them raised in anger. To his astonishment, he recognizes the second one.

 _What the hell is Yato doing here?!_

Kazuma starts toward the voices. At the sound of it, there's quite a scene happening—Kinuha is apparently trying to prevent Yato from entering the house (Kazuma hears some seriously questionable language from her, which is returned in kind from Yato). She's unsuccessful, because as Kazuma rounds the corner, Yato himself skids into the corridor, coming face-to-face with him.

"Oh, perfect! I knew there was _someone_ around here who I could count on not to act crazy," Yato says, righting himself, and casting a poisonous glance back at Kinuha, who backs off when she sees Kazuma. He nods once to her, indicating that it's all right, and she leaves, still glaring daggers at Yato.

"Yato, you'll need a good explanation for your presence here," he says.

Before Yato can respond to him, Hiyori's spirit runs full tilt through the nearest door. She looks around in awe, as though she's suddenly aware of the opulence of her surroundings. Then, she sees Kazuma.

"Oh—hi! We can explain, we promise."

Yato nods vigorously, launching into an explanation.

"Kunimi showed up at Kofuku's a little while ago in a panic because he said Ebisu went missing. He asked us to help him by coming here to look for him, while he went with Yukine to see if Ebisu had decided to revisit Capyper Land."

Yato finishes, looking a little disappointed that _he_ wasn't asked to check Capyper Land.

Kazuma looks at Hiyori to ask her why _she's_ helping the search, but she's still looking around, slightly awestruck at the sight of the grand house. Kazuma remembers that the first time she saw it, it had been in the dead of night, and half the building was on fire. The second time was slightly less life-threatening, but Yato's condition had still been worrisome. This is the first time she's been able to see it without any immediate fear for herself or her friends.

As he considers this, Bishamon's voice fills the hall.

"Yatogami. Why are you in my house, uninvited?"

Kazuma unsuccessfully tries to signal to Yato to run far, and run fast. Characteristically, Yato pays absolutely no attention to him, and turns to face Bishamon as she joins their group in the hall.

"They're here on behalf of Kunimi," Kazuma explains to her, trying to avert her imminent wrath.

Bishamon looks surprised at first. Then, she sighs. To Kazuma's relief, it doesn't look like Yato and Hiyori are in immediate danger.

"Well, it was only a matter of time," she says, resignedly.

Kazuma nods in silent agreement. Ebisu had his little field trip of freedom, and now it's time for him to go home.

"Kazuma, did you say Ebisu walked by here?" Bishamon asks.

"No. I haven't seen him since he went with you."

Yato's voice comes from behind Kazuma:

"You _lost_ him?!"

Bishamon pulls herself up to her full height.

"He must have walked off when I came out here to deal with _you._ So of course he's not lost. We just need to find him."

Yato snorts.

"According to the most definitions, that means 'lost'."

Hiyori puts a warning hand on his shoulder.

"We'll help look. Okay?"

Her question, while directed at Kazuma, is really meant to pacify Yato. The two gods continue to glare at each other while Kazuma nods gratefully at Hiyori.

"I think splitting up would be…practical," he suggests, nervously eyeing the storm clouds forming rapidly between Yato and Bishamon.

"Right you are!" Hiyori says, seizing Yato's wrist and hauling him in the opposite direction. As they vanish, Bishamon turns on a heel and stalks off to conduct her own search, with Kazuma trotting behind her.

"Ebisu is not _lost_. He is just out of _sight_ ," she mutters.  
"I know, Veena," Kazuma says, struggling to keep up with her quick pace.

/

After having patted his suit dry, Ebisu leaves the bathroom, and, since he doesn't see Bishamon or any of her shinki anywhere, decides that he's had enough chaperoning and is ready to find out more on his own.

He trots down the corridor, notebook safely tucked in his pocket.

/

"Where would he _go_?" Bishamon asks in frustration.

Kazuma knows the question isn't really for him, but he can't stop feeling like this is mostly his fault. Now he'll be known as the one who somehow managed to misplace one of the Seven Gods of Fortune, he thinks bitterly.

"I can feel that, you know," Bishamon says.

Mortified, Kazuma halts mid-step. She turns around to face him.

"I'm sorry."

"The more sorry you are, the more likely you are to blight yourself."

When she sees he's at an impasse, her eyes soften.

"Be easier on yourself, Kazuma. Most of the blame for this is on me. Besides, we probably have nothing to worry about. My house is safe for Ebisu."

He recognizes that she's right. There's almost nowhere else that could be safer for him. Still, Kazuma is highly uneasy that Ebisu has gone missing on what was supposed to be _his_ watch.

Bishamon seems to agree with his unspoken concern, saying:

"It's probably best not to let him continue wandering on his own—especially with Yato here too."

Kazuma winces, as the sound of shattering porcelain echoes from somewhere else in the manor. At the moment, he doesn't envy Hiyori's job of trying to keep Yato's enthusiasm in check.

/

As he regards the stunning view of Bishamon's blessed spring, Ebisu jots notes down in his journal. His brow crinkles as he writes:

 _Overall economic management has seemed above par, but I do have one query: why does she need an entire spring in which to bathe? Unless the water recycling system is very efficient, there must be significant wastage._

He snaps his notebook closed after this last note, and turns around as the sound of voices behind him grows closer.

"What was that commotion in the courtyard, Aiha?" asks a voice that Ebisu recognizes as the lion-man, Kuraha.

"Someone apparently showed up asking if we had seen Lord Ebisu anywhere in Lady Bishamon's house. Which is ridiculous, considering that Lord Ebisu's exemplar never lets him—"

The owner of the second voice stops short as she and her companion walk past the entryway to the spring, putting them in full view of Ebisu. The speakers are Kuraha and another of Bishamon's shinki—a pale girl with choppy, rose-colored hair. Their jaws drop open, and Ebisu waves at them, notebook held high.

"Hello!"

/

They have looked everywhere. They have looked _everywhere_.

Bishamon can tell that Kazuma is trying not to give away his growing anxiety, but she knows the stress lines that appear between his eyebrows and around his mouth too well for him to hide his thoughts from her.

"We'll tell everyone what we're searching for," she tells him. "The whole house will be on the lookout."

She can hear the thought that goes through Kazuma's head, as clearly as if it were in her own ears: _Then they'll all know how badly I messed up._

She sets her hand on his elbow, and he finally meets her eyes, which are full of nothing but reassurance. In response, he squares his shoulders and says:

"All right. I'll call a meeting in the courtyard."

A few minutes later, most of Bishamon's shinki are gathered in a chattering group, with Kazuma and Bishamon at its center. A few of them look askance as Yato and Hiyori push their way through the crowd, the former nearly dragging Hiyori behind him.

"What's going on? What's with the little cult meeting?" he asks. Hiyori groans and puts her hands over her face. Kazuma, ignoring him, turns to the rest of the crowd.

"There's been a—"

He stops, clears his throat, and pushes his glasses up.

"—a slight mishap. Lord Ebisu, who recently arrived here to discuss a business matter, has been…mislaid."

Mutters break out among the crowd. A few of them include: _How do you mislay a god of fortune? They tend to kind of stand out,_ and, _A business matter? Isn't his new incarnation pretty much an infant?!_

Kazuma's expression is inscrutable, but it looks like he's starting to sweat. He's about to speak again when Yato interrupts:

"Wait—Kazuma, aren't you a navigator or something? Why can't you just turn into your weird magic earring and pinpoint where Ebisu is?"

"It doesn't _work_ like that, Yato."

Yato deflates, his brilliant idea punctured.

"Oh. That's stupid."

Kazuma wishes it were that simple. Sadly, they have to find Ebisu using old-fashioned tools—their eyes.

"Go about your business," Bishamon says to her shinki, once it looks like Yato has run out of brilliant suggestions. "But keep your eyes open for Ebisu, and tell everyone else in the house. He can't be far."

/

An hour later, when neither hide nor hair of Ebisu has appeared anywhere in the manor, it looks like the tiny, clumsy god might have managed to evade every single one of Bishamon's shinki. Even she is beginning to look worried.

Yato, consequently, is on the point of panicking. Kazuma finds him supervised by a despairing Hiyori as he attempts to fit himself through part of the house's plumbing.

"What are you _doing_?"

"He could have gotten lost in the pipes!"

Yato's voice is muffled, since his head and most of his shoulders are wedged behind a sink. Hiyori and Kazuma exchange a look of deep disbelief. Hiyori says, kindly:

"Yato, you can't even fit your shoulders through there. Why would you think Ebisu would try and do that anyway?"

Yato stops trying to squirm himself into the impossibly small space, and his extremities go limp. Kazuma thinks it's probably good Yukine isn't here to witness his master's current state.

"I don't know. I just wanted to be thorough," says Yato in a small voice, which is barely audible.

Hiyori sighs.

"I know."

Kazuma, who had earlier witnessed Yato shouting up trees, putting his ear to the walls and then tapping on them, and finally trying to dig up the cobblestones themselves to check under them, would never question the thoroughness of his search.

"Is there any way he could have left Takama-ga-hara?" Hiyori asks, turning to Kazuma, as Yato starts wriggling to free himself. Kazuma thinks.

"It's unlikely, but not impossible. He didn't mention when he would be leaving, although it seems safe to assume that he doesn't go many places without his shinki."

Yato's legs kick ineffectually.

"Guys…I'm stuck."

Hiyori rests her chin on her fingers.

"What about one of Bishamon's other regalia? Were they all there at the meeting you called?"

One of Yato's hands starts grabbing at the air next to Hiyori, and she steps a little away from him.

"C'mon, Hiyori, I could _really_ use some help!"

Kazuma ponders for a second—then snaps his fingers in sudden, brilliant realization.

"I didn't see Kuraha. Of course! Ebisu must have gone looking for him."

Yato starts making a pained whining noise that sounds less like a hurt puppy and more like an overheating engine.

"Why would he look for Kuraha?" Hiyori asks.

"He's always shown a sort of fatherly interest in Ebisu. Once he couldn't find me or Veena, he probably went looking for Kuraha in the meantime."

"…So that's it. I'm stuck here forever," Yato moans.

Hiyori finally grabs a fistful of Yato's shirt and tugs mightily. He comes free, his face and shoulders covered in grime, and the scarf that was tied around his neck mysteriously missing. Yato notices this at once.

"My fluffy-fluff!"

"We can come back for it," Hiyori assures him, as she and Kazuma set off down the hall. Armed with his new idea, Kazuma notices that Bishamon is nowhere nearby. The two of them had searched her office for Ebisu, and since that happened Kazuma isn't sure where she's gone. He quickly leaves Yato and Hiyori, the former mourning the fate of his scarf, and heads back to her office to see if she's still there. He finds her frantically digging through stacks of papers in her office, looking far more flustered than he can recall seeing her in a long time.

"Veena?"

"The exchange diary—it's gone!"

Kazuma stops short. First Ebisu, then the exchange diary…if any more things start to go missing, Kazuma will begin to suspect Bishamon's house of being built over some sort of interdimensional rift.

"Why would someone take _that_?" he asks.

"I don't know!" she says, pulling out every single one of her desk drawers and emptying them onto the floor. "But I hadn't been able to read it yet, and now everything in it is _gone_."

Kazuma remembers the stumbling, tongue-tied entry he had finally succeeded in writing on the diary's pages, and finds himself perversely glad that it has gone missing. But Bishamon, judging by the state of her office, doesn't share this feeling.

"It'll turn up somewhere," he says, trying to sound reassuring.

"Remember, it's an _exchange_ diary. That means people will hand it around and it might get misplaced in the process."

"Yes, but Akiha gave it back to me this morning—I was going to look at it later today, and now it's gone!"

It did strike Kazuma as odd. Who would want their innocent little exchange diary? He remembers, suddenly, some of the things already written in it, mostly by Tsuguha and Aiha.

Perhaps not _so_ innocent. But certainly not worth stealing.

"We will find it, Veena. After—"

"Yes, yes," she interrupts, surfacing from underneath her desk with an abashed expression. "Of course, finding Ebisu is first priority. Is there _anywhere_ we have not checked?"

Kazuma sighs.

"No. I can only assume that he wandered out of the house and either ended up somewhere else in Takama-ga-hara, or found a way back to the Near Shore. Hiyori and I speculated that he may have—"

At that instant, a frazzled Aiha bursts through the door to Bishamon's office, heaving enormous breaths like she's just finished a marathon.

"My lady…so sorry…no idea…"

Kazuma and Bishamon stare.

"What is it, Aiha?" Bishamon asks, waiting for the girl to get her breath back.

"Lord Ebisu…we took him back to his exemplar. We didn't know you were searching for him here."

The two are struck with silence. Then, suddenly, Bishamon starts laughing, long and loud. Kazuma and Aiha both look at her, and Kazuma wonders briefly if he should be worried. Finally, she recovers her composure.

"He is exactly as troublesome as his predecessor. And we were so anxious over nothing!"

Aiha looks relieved, but the look passes when Bishamon asks her:

"Since you seem to bear good news, Aiha, do you happen to know where our exchange diary went?"

Aiha blushes a deeper pink than her hair.

"Oh…that."

The small group of them stands in the courtyard, Ebisu perched atop Kunimi's shoulders, with his nose deeply buried in the exchange diary. Kazuma tries to remember what he himself wrote in the diary, and eventually decides that it might be better for him to just accept the comfort of not knowing.

After Aiha admitted that she took the exchange diary out of the office to add some plot details to her story, Kazuma and Bishamon learned that she and Kuraha had found Ebisu near the hot spring. After telling them the purpose of his visit, he had accepted their offer to take him back home. Then, seeing the little book in Aiha's hands—much like his own well-used notebook—he had immediately shown a great interest it.

So great an interest, that he hadn't bothered mentioning to either Kuraha or Aiha that every one of the adults supervising him was now involved on a frantic search.

"We just thought we could help him get back," Aiha had explained, hands extended in supplication. "We're so sorry."

Bishamon had quickly offered her pardon, while Kazuma mutely put his face in his hands.

Now, as Ebisu hands the little book to Kazuma, he looks back at his own exemplar.

"Kunimi, I think I'd like to start keeping an exchange diary."

"What exactly _is_ that, young master?"

"It seems to be a sort of communal journal that shinki can write their feelings in. I'd like all of you to let me know what you're happy with, and what you'd like to see improved."

Kunimi, for all that he's happy to see Ebisu safe and whole again, looks profoundly uncomfortable.

"We can…try it?" he allows, phrasing it as a question.

It's enough for Ebisu, whose face lights up with the kind of enthusiasm that's usually only reserved for a particularly good investment.

"Excellent! I look forward to reading _everything_."

Kunimi, visibly sweating, thanks all of them before he and his young master take their departure. As the two of them leave, Yato can barely suppress his laughter, and Hiyori tries to hide her smile when she swats his arm. Amusement is pulling the corners of Kazuma's lips upward, though he is doing a credible job of keeping his demeanor professional. Bishamon is oblivious.

"I don't think Kunimi is going to thank us for the results of today," Kazuma tells her quietly, as they walk back inside.

Before Bishamon responds, she realizes that Yato and Hiyori are trailing in their wake.

"Do you still need to be here?" she asks Yato pointedly.

He backs up behind Hiyori, putting the girl in between himself and Bishamon.

"My fluffy-fluff scarf is still in there," he says, speaking safely over the top of Hiyori's head.

Bishamon sighs.

"Find it. _Quickly_."

Yato doesn't waste any time racing past them into the manor, half-dragging a protesting Hiyori behind him. She is far more patient than he deserves, Bishamon thinks.

Kazuma makes that coughing sound, which she suddenly realizes is actually laughter.

"She'll keep him from getting into any more trouble," he says, watching the two disappear around the corner.

"Which is more than either of _us_ can say," she replies, finally feeling the last knot of tightness in her spine slip away. As if in echo, Kazuma's shoulders slump.

"I am so sorry about today, Veena."

Bishamon turns to him, and a loose coil of hair spirals out of its knot, falling against her neck. She pulls it casually back into place, and his eyes follow the path of her hand. A pinch, like an insect bite, digs shallowly into the nape of her neck.

 _Ah, Kazuma._

"Like I said earlier, don't apologize. The initial responsibility falls on my shoulders. Besides, I think Ebisu still learned some useful things—most of them from you."

As it happens, Bishamon decides that she likes how Kazuma wears confusion. She likes it very much. And before that sweetly confused expression can leave his face, she kisses his cheek. His breath suddenly sounds like it's being tugged back into his lungs, and he stutters something incoherent. She smiles in reaction to his awkwardness, and then says brightly:

"Well, at least I was able to share the brilliant idea of my exchange diary with Ebisu!"

At this, Kazuma doesn't mind restraining his laughter, and it is Bishamon's turn to be confused.


End file.
